Yarn guide means



De 26, 94 F. G. WEISBECKER YARN GUIDE MEANS Filed July 29, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l w 0 fl7 U z z 1 lu Tl @i i My 1R F @u? .w

INVENIT ga 27a eisbec er BY w a ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 26, 1944 1 2,366,137 p YARN GUIDE MEANS Frank 'G. Weisbecker, Glenside, Pal, assignor to Hosiery Patents Inc., Lansdale, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application July 29, 1943, Serial No. 496,668 7 Claims. (01. 66-426) Thisinvention generally relates to yam guide means for textile machines and the like,,and

more particularly to the type comprising a releasably mounted yarn guide element, or tube.

In textile machines, such as straight knitting machines of the type commonly utilized for producing full-fashioned hosiery fabrics, the knitting yarn is fed to the knitting elements by selectively reciprocated lyarn laying devices, or carriers. A modern carrier of this type is provided with a releasably mounted yarn guide element, usually in the form of small rigid, or resilient yarn guide tube of metal or other material. The yarn passes throughthis tube, and from one tip thereof directly to the needles of the knittingmachine. To facilitate the replacement of these yarn guide tubes when they become defective, the carriersand their associated tubes usually have, addedthereto complementary securing, or latching elements, in one form or another, which releasably retain the tubes in determined position on the carriers. Due to the small and rather delicate nature of these elements; it has long beenrecognized that their provision and useinvolve manufacturing costs, as well as structural and functional difficulties, which are more or less detrimental from a commercial and practical standpoint. i 1

One object of my invention is to provide novel yarn guidemeans of the indicated type, which is freed the referred to added securing or latching elements, and the attendant manufacturing costs and difficulties associated with their provision and use.

Another object is to provide such means having a yam guide element with a resilient yarn guide section arranged to be releasably mainnected from, its support, by bodily moving the I element in a sidewise, or lateral direction. only,

during such action.

Anotherobject is to provide such means having a yarn guide element with a resilient yarn guide section arranged to be releasably associated with a support by means maintaining said section in tensioned, flexed, oroffset position on the support.

A still further object is to provide novel yarn guide means for textile machines and the like,

comprising aplain tubular yarn guide element,

0 cated in the upper portion thereof arranged to have tensioned engagement with the support, and a resilient lower end portion adapted to be flexed when it strikes an obstruction,

Another object v is to provide such yarn guide gs mountlng means having a readily accessible longitudinally extending groove in the front surface thereof for receiving and releasably seating a yarn guide tube: the groove being arranged so that a yarn guide tube can ,be placed therein or removed therefrom by a lateral movement of the tube.

An additional object is to provide a novel yarn laying device, or carrier, .for straight, or full-; fashioned knitting machines, which embodies the said and other structural and functional featained in cooperative association with its support by a novel tube holding action.

Another object is to provide such means havguide section arranged to perform the dual function of guiding the yarn and releasably retain ing the elementin cooperative association with its support. i

tures of advantage over similar devices of the prior art. With these and other objects in view, which will become readily apparent from the follow- 40 ing detailed description of the practical illustraqin a yarn guide element with a resilientyarn tive embodiments of.my novel yarn guide imf-provements,*shown in the accompanying drawe ings, the invention comprises the, new elements,

features of construction and arrangement of parts'in cooperative relationship,'as herein disappended claims.

In the drawings:

closed and more particularly pointed out in the Figure 1 is a front elevational view, on an enyarn guide element shown in the latter, omitted.

Fig. 6 is an elevational' view of'the resilient yarn guide element disclosed in Fig. 2, as it appears when in normal or released condition.

Fig. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the arrows 'I-I on Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the arrows 8-8 on Fig. 2.

Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially asindicated by the arrows 9-9 on Fig. 1.

Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the arrows ill-i0 on ,Fig. 2.

- Fig.'11"is a front elevational view, similar to Fig. 3, of a modified form of the yarn guide mounting construction of my invention associated with ak'nitting machine yarn carrier.

Fig. 12 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the arrows |2|2 on 'Fig. 11.

Fig.13 is a front elevational view, similar to ,Fig. 11, but of another modified form of the knitting machine yarn guide mounting construction of my invention. 7

Fig.14 is a cross-sectional view, taken substan-- tially as indicated by the arrows ll-l4 on Fig.

Fig. 15 is a front elevational view, similar to Fig. 1, and illustrates an additional embodiment of my invention associated with a knitting ma- 40 chine yarn carrier. v

Fig. 16 is a view similar to Fig. 15, but with r the resilient yarn guide element, or tube, omitted.

Fig.1? .is an elevational view of the resilient yarn "guideelement, or tube, shown in Fig. 15, 45

as it appears when in normal, or released condition. r

In order that the broader aspects of my invention may not be overlooked whenconsidering the specific exempliflcations thereof hereinafter de-' scribed, it is preliminarily pointed out that a unique feature of the invention resides in the utilization of a novel yarn guide element, or tube, having aspecial or resilient yarn guide section which lends itself to the performance oi! the dual' function of guiding the yarn and releasably retaining the elementin cooperative association with its support. To accomplish such dual functioningof the special section, various mounting "or supporting means may be provided and arranged to cooperate with said section insuch manner that its normal configuration or shape will be. affected or altered after the yarn guide element is seated in determined position on the support.

The alteration in the configuration of the resil- 1 ient section is such as to develop a binding or holding action of sufficient intensity to maintain the section (and consequently the entire yarn guide element) in releasable position on its sup- 70 port against any element displacing force resulting from the operation or the machine on which the element is mounted. However, this binding or holding action is attained in such manner as to readily permit the element to be manually Number Date Inventor 20 2, 014, 341 Sept. 10, 1935 F. G. Weisbecker.

2,101, 1 Dec. 7, 1937 Do. 2, 214, 712 Sept. 10, 1940 Do. 2,218, 6 Oct., 22,1940 D0. 2,218, 977 Oct; 22,1940 A. L. Weisbccker. 2,302,727 .Nov. 24,1942 Do. 2, 317, 318 Apr. 20, 1943 F. G. Weisbecker.

' withdrawn or released from its support, when desired, for replacement or other purposes.

In the drawings and description, various pracbeen included; for further information concerning the construction, operation, characteristics and use of such typical carriers, and their constituent parts, reference may be had to the fol- 15 lowing, or other, U. S. patents relating to this art:

Reference may also be had to the various catalogs, or other literature, relating to full-rashioned knitting machine and their parts;-published and copyrighted from time to time by the Textile Machine Works, of Wy missing, Pa.

In general, the yarn guide means, of Figs. 1,

3,'4, 7 and v9 of the drawings, comprise a yarn guide element support in the form of -a conventional yarn carrier arm 20 of the type ordinarily associated with straight or full-fashioned knitting machines, the illustrated lower end of,.which is modified in accordance with my invention; and a plain tubular or cylindrical yarn guide element 2| having a special or resilient, yarn guidev section 21''.

, The yarn guide section 2 I, of the tube 2| may be made resilient in accordance with the various resilient tube constructing practices of the above noted patents. If desired, and as shown, the

entire tube may be made resilient by forming the same of coiled fiat wire, or metallic ribbonoi rectangular cross-section or of a combination fiat and round wire, as taught by Patents Nos. 2,101,-

801, 2,218,977 and 2,317,318. The coiled metallic ribbon or wire may be formed of any suitable metal, such as stainless steel.

tion 2|, or the entire tube construction 2| is made in accordance with the practice of the said patents, the respectivev tube securing or latching elements disclosed in said patents are omitted in accordance with my invention, so that the resultant tube will'be of a plain cylindrical Iconfiguration as more particularly illustrated by Fig. 4, or of a slightly tapered configuration, as shown in Figs. 15 and 17. If desired, a rigid apertured tip 2 l of wear resistant metal, such as carb0loy" may be added to the lower end of the tube 2|, by welding, as explained in Patent No. 2,218,977,

or in other suitable manner. I V

The upper resilient yarn guide section 2| of the tube 2!, is utilized to perform the dual function of guiding the yarn which passes therethrough and of releasably maintaining the tube 2| in cooperative association with its support- To perform the latter function, the section 2| is seated on its cooperating support or yarn carrier arm 20 in a tensioned, flexed or offset condition so as to develop a binding or holding action In this con- ,nection it will be understood that when vthe sec- To facilitate an understanding of the changes.

or additions made in the lower end'of carrier arm 20 in accordance with my invention, the conventional or prior art features of the latter will first bebriefly pointed out. Following the prior-art practice, the yarn carrier arm20 is tapered longitudinally so that its thinnest portion, is at the end adapted to support the yarn guide tube 2|.

6 This end of the carrier is also tapered tofits opposite side edges, substantially as shown in Figs. 7 and 9. The thickness of the carrier end 2|l'may be substantially the same, or slightly greater along its longitudinal center line, than the external diameter of the tube 21, depending upon the num- .ber of yarn carrier arms operating in a given knittingmachine section, and consequentlythe space available to permit the individualcarrier farms to freely pass each other during their "yarn laying operation. I c

Conventional straight, or full-fashioned knitting machines have as many as seven or nine yarn carriers 20 oper'ating'in closely spaced relationship ineach knittingsection producing a singlefiat stocking fabric, or blank, and such carriers travel in closely spaced parallelpaths, each of the carriers having a reciprocating movement in a sidewise direction. v g 7 As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the extreme, lower edge 22 or the carrier-arm, 20 is curved as usual toprovid espace for free flexing movement or the protruding end of the resilient lower end of yarn guide tube 2|. Inthe event the projecting tube end, including the tip 2|, strikes an obstruction during useof the carrier as indicated, the projecting tube end yields 'due to the flexibility of the lower portion of the element 2|. When the.

obstruction is passed, the deflected tubeend will return to its normal straight yarn feeding position due to the resiliency of the-lower portion of the element 2|.

To guide the yarninto the upper end of the tube 2|, the front face of the provided with a yarn guide groove 23.

In accordance, with my invention, the yarn carrier arm 20 of the general construction just carrier arm 2|! is and lateral displacing forces, or shocks, resulting from operation of the machine on which the carrier 20 is mounted. However, the tube holding or securing forces can be overcome by exerting a certain releasing pull on the tube in a lateral direction opposite to the direction in which the tube ismoved when mounting it on the carrier 20, l to effect bodily withdrawal of theftube from the forward, or open front portion of its positioning or seating grooves and 25, When the-tube is released. from the arm 2|I,the section 2|, due to its resiliency, will return to the straight line position shown in Fig. 4;, so that all the sections of carrier by punching. or otherwise providing an aperture 21 in the latter having the configuration shown in Fig. 3.. The element 26 is preferably, but not necessarily, curved in such manner that the tube portion 2| willcontactingly rest against its adjacent surface when the tube 2| is in its cooperative position on the carrier 26, as

shown-in Fig. 1. The side wall 21 of the aperture 21, which is directly opposite to the element '26,,is so shaped and spaced tromthe adjacent side wall of the tube section 2 I asto permit the insertion of a tube engaging means, Or tool, be-

tweenthe wall 21" and said section, to facilitate positioning, or removr-l of the tube 2|. I

Since the modification of my invention illustrated by Figs. 2, 5, 6, 8 and .10, differs only in certain respects-from the construction shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4, 7 and9, the use of corresponding reference characters, to designate corresponding parts, will .be resorted to so asto avoid repetition of the description of such parts. 1 l,

The lower end of the carrier 26, shown in Figs. 2, 5,8 and 10 is of a somewhat diflerent conventional shape than that shown in, Figs. 1,

- 3, 'l'and 9. However, this is merely to, illustrate that my invention'is not limited in its application'to one standard form of carrier. Insofar described, is provided with mounting means for. l

r the tube 2|, comprising apair of spaced longitudinally aligned tube sectionseating grooves 24 and 25, and an intermediate element26 adapted to tension, flex, or oilset, the normally straight resilient 'tubisction 2| as shownin -Fig. 1. 'The tube 2| is mounted on carrier 20 by laterally moving the tube a into the seating or positioning grooves 24 and 25 so that section 2 I is tensioned,

' resilient tube section 2| on the element 26 ef- .fects africtional binding action against longitudinal, as well as lateral movement of the tube, and

c the projection of the element 26 into the displaced portion of section 2 l simultaneously effects a' detent action preventing longitudinalmovement of the element 2|, The latter action also results from the location of the curved resilient tube section 2| intermediate the two straight tube as my invention is concerned, the results arethe same whether applied to one or' another of such conventional carriers.

a As :in the case of the carrier 20 of Figs. 1 and 3, the extreme lower edge of the carrier shown in Figs. 2 and 5 is so shaped and situated relative to the resilient projecting end of the 'yarn guide tube 2|, as to permit free flexing action thereof when it strikes anobstruction. How- 'ever, if it is desired to provide a rigid projectingtube end, in placeof the resilient tube end section shown in Fig. 2, the bottom edge of cara 6 and 10. The, aperture 21 of Figs. 2,5 andlO. has a straight side wall2l which forms acon- 'rier 26 can be locatedsomewhat closer .to the bottom tube. tip; ,3

Instead of forming theelement 26 of the first described form oi' my inve'ntion integral with the carrier 26, a separate element 26 isshown as pro- ,vided onthe resilient tube section 2|! of Figs. 2,

tinuation of the corresponding side walls of grooves 24, and 25. The fiat outer portion of element 26, on the resilient tube section 2|- is arranged torest against, or engage the wall 21 when. thetube is in determined cooperative association with its carrier 26. This will effect the X the tube will again be in longitudinal alignment,

as before.

tensioning, flexing, or offsetting of the tube section 2| as before. The binding or holding action oi the tube section II in this arrangement of my invention, is in efiect substantially the same as that previously described.

The element 28, may be secured to the outer wall of the resilient tube section 2| by soldering, welding, or in other suitable manner.

Figs. 11, 12, 13 and 14 disclose further modifications of the carrier construction 20 shown in Figs. 1 and 3, which may be utilized, if desired, in conjunction with the tubular yarn guide element of Fig. 4. Since the carrier constructions of Figs. 11, 12, 13 and 14 differ only in certain respects from that of Figs. 1 and 3, the corresponding parts of each are again designated by similar reference characters.

In the construction of Figs. 11 and 12, the element 26' is provided 'with a longitudinally grooved seat portion 29 for the resilient section 2| of the tube 2|, shown in Fig. 4. This seat portion 29 functions to keep the resilient section '2l of the tube 2| in the same, vertical plane as the adjacent sections of the tube positioned in the straight andaligned seating grooves Hand 25. The portion 29 also functions as a detent "means to prevent the section 2|, and consetion such as shown in Figs.1 and 3, however,

provided 'with a continuous tube seating groove 3| of uniform width, having an offset portion 32 intermediate its ends. Such a carrier construc 'tion can also be utilized in conjunction with the yarn guide tube of Fig. 4, to releasably hold the latter in the determined cooperative position on the carrier, as previously described.

Figs. 15, 16 and'l'l, illustrate another modification of my invention, and one in which the support, or carrier construction is generally the same as that shown in Figs. 13 and 14. However, the tube receiving and seating groove 33 -of Figs. 15 and 16 is straight, slightly tapered and of such width throughout, as to snugly accommodate therein a tube section of similar configuration andslightly lesser width.

Fig. 17 shows the normal configuration of a yarn guide tube 4| adapted to be cooperatively associated with the carrier 20 of Figs. 15 and 16. The tube 4| is of the resilient type constructed in accordance with the general practice followed in forming the tube of Fig. 4 and the disclosure of the hereinbefore listed patents. However, the upper resilient section M- of the tube 4| is bent or curved, substantially as shown in Fig. 17. When the tube 4| is placed in its seating groove 33 on the carrier 20 (see Fig. 15) in such manner that the curved resilient tube section 4| is placed between the straight side walls of the groove, the section is straightened and the spring tension developed therein as a consequence of this action effects a side pressure between the tube section ll and the side walls of the groove 33 resulting in a frictional binding,

or-holdihg force, which accomplishes the same practical results pointed out in connection with elements of the type-heretofore associated. with similar yarn guide tubes of the prior art. a It is also to be noted that the cooperating supporting means for such plain tubular yarn guide elements or tubes involves an equally simple arrangement in comparison with the prior art structures, and one which provides the unique advantage of permitting cooperative association of the yarn guide element with its support, or release therefrom, by a short lateral movement of the element in each instance. 7

Of course, the yarn guide' means herein disclosed can be changed and modified in various ways without departing from the invention more particularly defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

ment having a resilient yarn guide section, and means on said'support arranged toreleasably retain said element in cooperative association with said support when the element is bodily moved laterally into engagement with said means.

2. A .yarn guide device for a knitting machine comprising in combination, a yarn guide support adapted to be mounted on said machine and having a straight yarn guide tube receiving groove with an offset portion intermediate its ends; and a yarn guide tube having a normally straight resilient yarn guide section releasably mounted in said groove in such manner that the resilient section of the tube is positioned in the offset portion of said groove. I

3. A yarn guide device for a knitting machine comprising in combination, a yarn guide support adapted to be mounted on said machine and having a straight yarn guide tube receiving groove with an offset wall section at one side thereof intermediate its ends; and a yarn guide tube having a resilient yarn guide section with a surface projection, releasably mounted in said groo've in such manner that the said surface projection is positioned in the yarn tube receiving groove at a point opposite to the offset wall section of the latter.

element having a normally curved resilient yarn guide section, and means arranged to releasably maintain said section in straight position in the yarn guide receiving means.

6. In combination, a support provided with yarn guide tube receiving means, a yarn guide tube having a normally curved resilient yarn guide section, and means arranged to releasably maintain said section in substantially straight position in the yarn guide tube receiving means.

'7. A yarn guide device for a, knitting machine comprising in combination, a support, a yarn guide tube having a resilient yarn guide section, and means on said support arranged to releasably retain said tube in cooperative association with said support when the resilient yarn guide section is moved laterally into engagement with said means.

G. WEISBFCKER. 

